Generous gift to bring the world’s top design thinkers to Melbourne

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The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning has received a gift of $1 million from Creative Futures, supported by Professor Daryl Le Grew and alumnus Dr Robert Treseder.

The gift will provide the annual Robert Garland Tresder Fellowship, set to bring internationally acclaimed design and innovation trailblazers to work in residence at the University.

The perpetual Fellowship will enable artists, business innovators, designers, policy leaders, start-ups, architects and scholars with a dedication to the development and promotion of design-based innovation to visit Melbourne.

As a Fellow-in-residence these thinkers and practitioners will contribute to the intellectual life of the city, presenting lectures and workshops. They will also have the opportunity to work in the Melbourne School of Design, with access to the gallery and state-of-the-art fabrication workshop to create and exhibit their work.

Dr Robert Treseder is a planning graduate of the University of Melbourne. He also taught at the University, lecturing in Communication Design and Environmental Design. During that time he was elected to the position of Chair of the Faculty of Arts Education for five terms and was appointed Head of the School of Art and Design for five years.

Following his university appointments, Dr Treseder founded, and for 15 years was Director of, the renowned private institution, the Academy of Design Australia.

Dr Treseder has an enduring passion for design and is keen to support the continued growth of Melbourne’s internationally-respected design community.

“I was interested in creating a design program for Melbourne that was fundamentally for the social good of the city and the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning is the ideal setting for this mission,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to seeing thinkers come to Melbourne from the best design schools around the world. They think the same way we do, in terms of innovation. I’d like people here in Melbourne to have the chance to interact with the best."

Interim Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, Professor Daryl Le Grew, said although the University has an established reputation in design disciplines such as architecture, The Robert Treseder Fellowship would further develop design practice and creativity at Melbourne.

“This is an opportunity to think about ‘design-in-the-round’ and coincides with the first intake of students into the new Bachelor of Design,” he said.

“Treseder Fellows will come to the University and support us to think through how design in the future will drive new professions for our new graduates.

“We will welcome them as initiators and facilitators in our own design education context. Dr Treseder is a seminal figure in Australian design education. His generosity will also bring exciting creatives here, who will design and make and share with our students, and Melbourne.”

The Robert Garland Treseder Fellowship gift is part of Believe – the Campaign for the University of Melbourne. The biggest undertaking for an Australian institution, the University is aiming to raise $1 billion in philanthropic investment by 2021 to change the lives of future generations.

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